Help! To leave london or not? £900k budget (ideally)

[Sellorwait6]

We live in london now, a very expensive part of SE london. Our mortgage is a bit crippling and we want to reduce it. Plus I want a bit more greenery (maybe sea?). But I’m a bit worried about leaving London.

With a £900k budget, would you leave London or stay? I really want to live somewhere arty and cultured. We’re a mixed race family, so possible racism in the rest of the uk does worry me...

We have young children also, so schools are a concern.

What would you do? And where would you go?!

For family, north london makes more sense. But if we’re not moving near family, then anywhere in the UK works because DH and I work from home (most of the week).

With that budget, you could buy a house in lots of parts of London. You need to weigh up what you want- staying near family, the culture and diversity London has to offer

Or do you want to be the sea?
What will you miss about London if you leave ? Not easy to get back in if you leave.

We want to be in green and lovely London for that price, but maybe the areas I know about and lust after are just particularly pricey? (Blackheath, Muswell Hill - we can’t afford a house in either.)

I think what I’ll miss about london most is the community and open-mindedness. And the schools are also fantastic.

But what I won’t miss is high crime and lack of green!

We’re very torn. We’re ready for a move and a change. But don’t know where to be properly looking! (In London or out!)

If we leave London, we’d want to spend less than £900k and get our mortgage down even more.

Jesus go live round the corner from blackheath in charlton, hither green, Bromley etc. That budget I would stay!

We yearned for sea and countryside. Budget slightly less than yours, but paid off mortgage and moved to Folkestone. Lovely artsy community. Know plenty of atypical families (same sex couples with children and mixed race) It is an extremely welcoming and vibrant community with lots of wonderful things to do. Lots of people have moved down from London or across from Brighton so it’s easy to make friends and slot in...

Oh just seen you are from Blackheath. We are not far from there and know a few DFLs (down from Londoners) who have hailed from there too in pursuit of mortgage free living...

That’s good to hear about Folkestone! Someone I know was talking about it the other day also.

I don’t know Charlton, etc, perhaps worth checking out. I must admit I had discounted as it’s so near to Woolwich! London does change very suddenly, from one street to another, so wasn’t looking much outside Blackheath or Muswell Hill (type areas). For example, I know that cheaper just outside Muswell Hill is Finsbury Park, which I don’t like and where my husband grew up.

DH and I first lived together in Crouch End (not Finsbury’s Park 😁😁) and Folkestone reminds us a bit of that if you wanted a comparison you could maybe relate to 😁. Lots of independent shops and restaurants with a lovely cafe culture and the added bonus of glorious sea and countryside (and Europe!) all within touching distance...

Charlton has a Woolwich side and a blackheath side.
I’m from blackheath too OP, with a mixed race child. Spent 7 years in lee and now am bromley. Your budget would be fine just moments from
Blackheath. My child enjoys all the same things I did, the village/ fireworks display/ the fun fairs on the heath. Ok we drive there but it’s no time at all. I personally think once a Londoner always a Londoner- I couldn’t leave. Also I think it’s better for teeenagers/ young adults to be in a city for things to do/ the job opps, transport etc.

Oh and I have family in Charlton. I’d say Greenwich yes, Charlton no...

What about the north London suburbs like Stanmore or Mill Hill? That way you get the best of both worlds. You can easily drive to places like Muswell Hill or Hampstead in 20mins on the weekend and of course have easy access to the whole of London via public transport. You're also a short drive away from places such as St Albans and a whole load of countryside. Sounds like they could be good options?

Bubbles - you make Folkestone sound so lovely! I really like Crouch End. I will add it to my list!

Will also check out Mill Hill and Stanmore type areas, dontmess. I don’t know them at all, DH might know (as he knows north london well).

onlyfools will definitely check out Bromley! I have heard of it, and positive things!

£900,000 won't get you a family house in Muswell Hill, you could get something in Bounds Green, Bowes Park but it's not quite the same.
I used to live in MH, moved out to the countryside, but now looking to move back in to London again.
I've got £750,000 cash but trying not to get a mortgage and that's not really enough for the nice bits of North London, at least I don't need to worry about schools, which you do if you have secondary aged children in North London as catchments are very small.

Also Finchley and Southgate and High Barnet

I think you could afford Blackheath - around The Standard. Shooters Hill, also.

We were in a similar predicament. We decided to focus on Beckenham. You could also consider Sutton.

Kent is nice, friends live in Margate. I prefer the west though, thought about Bristol or the coast beyond? £750k buys a large detached on half an acre overlooking the Bristol Channel

How many bedrooms and how big a garden are you hoping for?

I’d buy where I live, just off the edge of south west London (technically Surrey) by the river, equal travel distance to both London proper and lovely Surrey Hills and Windsor Great Park. You could get a lovely house for that here.

Just googled. For £800 k, five bedroom Victorian detached house with garage and 40 metre garden. Top of Shooters Hill. On the market now.

. You'll be busy with weekenfd visits to Folkestone and Bristol too!

Fleet?
Farnborough?
Liphook?

You'd get a decent house (depending on requirements!) in Petts Wood/Hayes/Chislehurst for that budget. All very green and safe but good links back into London still.

By ‘arty’ do you just mean naice independent shops or are you an artist yourself? If it’s the first, then you’ll generally struggle in outer London. If you’re actually creative and it’s more about that, then you will find like-minded people - Carshalton has annual Artists’ Open houses with quite a large creative community, we’ve also met several music producers around there etc. I’m next door in Sutton and dabble in amateur painting and sculpture - Sutton college does lots of creative courses so it’s easy to meet people with similar hobbies. It’s multicultural and you’d get a lot of house for your money but not the naice high street.

Otherwise, probably try to make do with a property you can afford in Blackheath or Muswell Hill (much better for state schools than Blackheath).

I wouldn’t move out of London if your main motivation is a bigger house as you’re likely to end up miserable (but I do like Folkestone and it’s about 50mins to St Pancras from Folkestone West).

There are bits of the UK that are not London, but which are diverse. Some are rural, but it's a mindset, not a postcode.

Also for £725 k, a three bedroom detached house on Danson Road, Welling ( just over the Shooters Hill) , views overlooking Danson Park and lake, with big garden, scope to extend, garage and near those very good schools - the Bexley grammar schools, they mean, presumably.

Welling by the park, will be very sought after, because, when Crossrail comes to Abbey Wood, commuters will be able to drop down the hill to AW station, and more buses will be put on to get there.

Good point that it might be difficult to ever buy again in London if you leave.